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Her shoulders relaxed, but it still didn’t make any sense. “But…why would Zoe want to do this? I mean, I know she’s like, stupidly nice…but that feels like a really, really big favor.”

“It was…mutually beneficial,” Tyler explained.

Rory’s mind immediately went to the Festival of Lights. “Walker?”

Tyler hesitated, like he was about to tell her. Then he just shook his head. “Ry, I’m sorry, I can’t. That’s her thing to share, when she’s ready.”

She was frustrated by his answer, but then her mind drifted back to what he’d told her. Texas. “You’re moving. Like, really far away.”

He lifted a hand to her face, brushing his thumb against her cheek. “I don’t know yet. I still haven’t heard.”

She clamped her eyelids shut, letting her tears fall, the crackle of thunder dulling the sound of her sobs as Tyler pulled her close, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

“I can’t lose you,” she admitted.

“You won’t, Ry, I promise.”

“I don’t have much of a family.”

“We’ll always be family. And I don’t think you could get rid of Bea if you tried.”

She laughed and wrapped her arms around Tyler’s waist.

“Plus,” he said, his voice hoarse. He sounded like he was crying, too. “You have him. Jay.”

She looked up at Tyler, and sure enough, tears filled his eyes. Her heart melted, knowing how much he cared for her. How much she was going to miss him. “I broke things off with him,” she confessed.

He stiffened. “What?”

“I ended things,” she admitted. “On Christmas.”

“When on Christmas?”

“After…after we, um…after I went home.”

Tyler looked out at the storm, his eyebrows knitted together.

“Ty…Ty, say something.”

“I have to go.”

She let his hand go, watching him stand up and walk down the porch steps. She stood up as well. “What…are you mad at me?”

He froze, not looking back at her, the rain ricocheting off his shoulders. “No.”

She growled, frustrated. “Then what is it? Ty, my thing with Jay was…stupid. Then I kissed you and everything changed. I couldn’t be with him like that anymore.”

He didn’t move, so she took that as a sign to move closer to him, not caring that she was now getting soaked as well. “Ty, look at me.”

Slowly, he did, his body still rigid like he was trying to restrain himself.

You’ll always regret it if you don’t try. He said those words to her just moments ago, so she decided to take his advice. She’d call Roger Farrow tomorrow. She would tell Gabi, no matter how much it would hurt her mother, because deep down, she knew what she needed to do next with her life. And she desperately wanted Tyler to be a part of it—and not just as her best friend. As the person she wanted by her side through it all. So she would try right now, because she knew she would regret it for her entire life if she didn’t.

“I’m falling for you,” she admitted, her voice shaky but sure. “And I want to be with you.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, tilting his head up to the stormy clouds. She couldn’t tell if he was still crying or not, his face wet from the rain still coming down.

“But if you…if you don’t want to be with me, you need to tell me, Ty,” she said, her voice choppy. “Please, I can’t keep waiting around, hoping that you’ll choose me, too.”